Regalito

My beautiful Reggie, the friendliest, most loving pony you will ever meet!  Just thinking of him makes me smile (to be fair, all the others have the same effect!).  Reggie is the newest addition to our family and his official name is Regalito, which means ‘gift’ in Spanish.  He was named this due to the fact that no-one knew his mother was pregnant, so he really was an unexpected surprise!

I first saw Reggie in Dubai coming off a trailer, having been brought from UK at 5 years old, to play polo.  I was instantly smitten with him.  He is honestly just such a beauty to behold, I have included a photo but you have to see him to believe it!  I would walk past him every day and he would always poke his head out for a cuddle.  He was also partial to a carrot or two, so I would sneak them into him when no-one (especially Tita!) was looking!  

I would watch with envy when he was ridden out and I always felt a connection with him, even though I never believed for a second that he would actually be mine one day. 

In the summer of 2017, I headed off on holiday with my family.  I was aware at the time that Reggie was on box rest, due to an injury on the polo field.  Whilst I was away, I received a message that I wasn’t expecting.  It seemed that Reggie had torn the tendon on his right front leg and on top of that, he also had a lesion in his navicular bone, so his outlook wasn’t great. Reggie needed at least a year of rest and recuperation.  So, the question was, would I be interested in having him……well you can imagine how long it took me to answer…..oooo, all of 2 seconds!! 

I knew this was no easy feat and I had promised my husband, Toby, NO MORE HORSES!!  However, after secretly committing to take Reggie whilst we were on holiday, I broke it to Toby when we got back.  I closed my eyes whilst I waited for his response!  However, he completely surprised me by quietly asking “is it Reggie?”, when I confirmed it was he said, “well that’s that then!”.  I have never been more grateful to have such a supportive husband, he knew I would never give up on Reggie, so there was no point in fighting it. 

From the moment I took Reggie on in Dubai, I made sure he had at least 2 to 4 hours a day in the paddock (not an easy thing to do when you have to share paddock space with 100 other ponies!) and I would put Dollar in with him for company, it was over this time that they became the best of friends and they are now inseparable. 

After 4 months of owning him, I was told by the vet that I should start to ride him in walk.  I was very nervous about this, being that he was only 6 years old by then and hadn’t been ridden in over 8 months, I wasn’t sure how he would react.  He was incredible.  He was very forward but never put a foot wrong, he would communicate the whole time, snorting through his nose at every step but I soon came to realise that this was him looking around with child-like eyes at everything and taking it all in.  After a few weeks, I was able to take him down on to the big polo fields, where there would be sets of polo ponies cantering past me and…..nothing, no reaction, he really is an amazing pony.    

Devon life is suiting Reggie well, he and Dollar share a field and I am going to have many stories to tell you about my little herd.  The only hurdle we are facing with Reggie at the moment, is cows, he is absolutely terrified of them!  In Dubai it was Camels and now it’s Cows, so not sure which is more terrifying!  So we’re working on this and making slow progress, so watch this space for more adventures to come!